Maybe, all we need to know about the controversial Confederate plaque in the Capitol in Austin is this: No one in authority is arguing to keep it up. It is still attached to the wall only because of a debate about who has the authority to take it down.

Fortunately, it now looks like we may soon see an end to this fight.

Gov. Greg Abbott has called a meeting of his fellow governing members of the State Preservation Board, charged with maintaining and preserving the Capitol, the Governor's Mansion and other properties. That board will presumably now discuss the “Children of the Confederacy” plaque that was installed in 1959.

Dozens of lawmakers have called for its removal over the decades. The plaque is offensive because is supports the Confederacy. It is also offers a distorted and widely debunked version of history. It features the group's then creed, including a "pledge ... to study and teach the truths of history (one of the most important of which is, that the War Between the States was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery)." Even the group abandoned that claim a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the fight lingers on over who has the authority to remove the plaque.

Abbott, the chairman of the preservation board, supported removal but has said since the Legislature authorized the plaque’s installation, lawmakers should be involved in deciding whether to remove it. But in a sign this saga could be over soon, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion last week saying that the preservation board and the Texas Legislature have the authority to remove the plaque.

We hope the board is on the way to doing the right thing when it meets in January, and if it fails to do so that lawmakers follow through and remove the plaque.

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It’s been more than a year since state Rep. Eric Johnson, a Dallas Democrat, raised renewed questions about the plaque that sits near his Capitol office. And with the Legislature coming into session, there is no better time to act.

We’re glad to see Rep. Dennis Bonnen of Angleton, whom Republicans have backed to become the next speaker of the Texas House, also supports removal.

This newspaper has argued that these divisive tributes do not belong in our public spaces. And we are pleased to know that the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that Texas has removed more Confederate symbols than any other state in the three years since the killing of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., that renewed the effort to take them down.

We’re past ready to see this one go too.

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